


as the light changes

by thinlines



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Short Story, for those that have finals coming up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5599039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinlines/pseuds/thinlines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Why are you here, Harry?” Louis didn’t know what possess him to ask such a nosy question and he avoided Harry’s penetrating stare.<br/>“I like your voice.” Harry shrugged.<br/>“Oh.”<br/>“It’s raspy like you haven’t had water for days. Like you are a flower in the middle of the desert that had long ceased longing for rain. Sounds kind of hopeless, but when you read, I think, the world just stops and listens.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	as the light changes

**Author's Note:**

> what. is. this.
> 
> enjoy

The smoke curled from the cigarette Louis held loosely by his side as he watched dawn broke across the city. Under the bright first rays of sunlight, the city’s dirty streets became visible. The crumbling walls of buildings, the bags of garbage piled in street corners, stray animals littering the streets licking at the pesticides on their backs and the stench was overwhelming. It was all very depressing, even more so under the contrast of Mother Nature’s light. Everything was ugly. Just like the cigarette in his hand. Just like the life he was living.

He took a drag, only a drag and let the butt fall from his fingers into the empty hole filled streets. The roof was getting windy and he was only in a flimsy black shirt. His first class starts at nine. It was time for him to go to the library.

He was a volunteer there. Not because he wanted to. The school needed every student to complete a volunteer credit. He liked it there. Maybe one of the few things he enjoyed was reading to the kids during lunch. Not many came to be his audience. He knew the old faces, new ones hardly showed up.

Someone came today. A kid. No, more like a man child. He sat on the stool furthest from Louis and jigged his feet in time to invisible music. He didn’t seem to be there for story time, because he remained facing away from Louis towards the window that had a view of the garden outside. More like a clump of grass. Louis watched him.

He was there again two days later. This time as Louis sat down and opened a random book that a kid had selected, he could feel someone staring at him intently. The gaze was burning holes in his sweater and felt like the summer sun on his skin. He looked up and met the eyes of the man. Louis glanced away as soon as he saw green and didn’t look up for the rest of the day. The color seemed to make his skin crawl and the unblinking stare of the man made him squirm. Louis didn’t know why.

He aced his midterms just because he can. He didn’t tell anyone that he had studied three weeks beforehand. He wasn’t known as the nerd, more like a burnout. More like someone who was once a star but now had had his fill in dominating the skies.

“Hi.” The green eyes spoke to him on a snowing Wednesday when no kids came and they were alone in the small corner of the library.  
“Here. Read this.” He thrust a book into Louis’s hands before he could reply. It was a copy of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. He stared. But read it anyways.

He yearned for a cigarette, but he had resolved to quit. He bit his nails instead until they were short and bloody.

“I’m Harry.” The man said to him one day when all the kids had left. He was sipping from the cup of chocolate milk the librarian had kindly handed out. Louis forced an awkward smile.  
“Louis.” They didn’t shake hands.  
“Why are you here, Harry?” Louis didn’t know what possess him to ask such a nosy question and he avoided Harry’s penetrating stare.  
“I like your voice.” Harry shrugged.  
“Oh.”  
“It’s raspy like you haven’t had water for days. Like you are a flower in the middle of the desert that had long ceased longing for rain. Sounds kind of hopeless, but when you read, I think, the world just stops and listens.”

Harry disappeared for a month after that. Louis aced his finals. He didn’t show anyone his score but they all knew. His back ached from carrying so many books to and from campus.

He dwelt on the thought of Harry. No, more on the words that came out of his lips. Words that haunted Louis but also made him burn.

Louis bumped into Harry when he pushed the door into the library. The automatic doors were broken. They tend to stop working when the weather turned warm.

“Sorry.” They both said at the same time and laughed.  
“Want to go get a sandwich?” Harry asked out of the blue and Louis felt something like relief. Something close to hope.

They went to the dingy subway five blocks away. The melting snow soaked into Louis’s soaps but he didn’t feel disgusted. He felt alive.

Harry followed him home that day and that was it. Before Louis turned to go in, Harry had grabbed his arm and held on. Tighter than a normal friendly grip.

“You have so many regrets, Louis. I can tell. I don’t want you to feel like you are not worthy of this world because you are.”

“Life is unfair. Hardworking people get put down. It’s just the way it is, Harry.” Louis smiled, but he knew pain was clear on his face.

“You deserve so much more. Than all this.” Harry gestured behind him to the dark streets. The city teeming with filth.

“I hope you meant that.” Louis said quietly and Harry nodded.

“In the next life, you will get more happiness in your jar. I swear.” Harry told him and gripped him harder. Louis smiled his genuine smile. It was a sad smile.

“Good bye Louis.” Harry turned away and down the street until his purple shadow disappeared around the bend and dawn brushed her rosy fingers across the black night.

He didn’t even see it coming. The black car that came speeding down the road. He was crossing the street intent on memorizing his cards for an upcoming quiz.

The lights were behind his lids were brighter than the sunrise. Brighter than the man that came into his life and left at the dusk.


End file.
